


Anything Goes

by hotot



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Dancing, Drabbles, F/M, Fluff, Post-War, Romance, Thane Lives, prompts, they have suffered enuf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 10:59:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8283470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotot/pseuds/hotot
Summary: It's far beyond the stars... It's near beyond the moon....
 Thane and Shepard find new meaning in an old Earth song. After the war.





	

Thane stared out of the hotel window into the velvet blackness of an Earth night. The glitter of Vancouver’s skyline danced in his vision, and he could sense, rather than see the dark stretch of the sea beyond. This body of water was called the Pacific… a word that meant placid, or peaceful. 

Peace was all he wanted for himself now, and for his Siha-- his warrior angel. She would always be Siha, but they had earned rest that she at least, would not see. Even during a time of peace, her work was never done. 

The quiet hiss of the hotel door announced her presence, and Thane looked up from his steepled hands. For once he had not been thinking of the past, but of the future. It was a new phenomenon, and had been happening often since he’d decided that he wanted to live. 

But imagining was much more difficult than remembering… or making new memories. 

It didn’t matter right now though, because before him stood not a moment or a memory, but a vision. His Siha was flawless. 

She wore the dress he’d selected for her for the Worlds’ Peace Summit: a long, black velvet sheath which came to a point below her small breasts and skimmed her knees. On her feet were a pair of glossy black heels that made her long legs even longer. She’d painted her lips and eyes dark, and pinned back her dark red curls the color of Earth’s sumac blooms.

The door closed behind her, and she smiled.

“You look so lovely,” she sighed, eyes skimming his body as he stood. Thane wore his formal leathers, black trimmed in soft gray, the long tails trailing down almost to his knees. Nothing else would do for this particular occasion, when the entire Galaxy would be watching. 

“I can hardly compare to you,” he said, peering into her eyes to see what she held in her heart and mind that night. 

What he saw was mischief playing with shyness: the crinkle at the corner of her eye and the slight curve of her dark-painted mouth tugging upward into a secret smile. She was not thinking of the Summit. 

“You shouldn't look so happy about attending a public function. I thought you would be nervous,” he commented, tone slightly dry as he waited for her to surprise him with whatever it was she was up to. That look only meant trouble. 

“Tonight we’ll honor the dead,” she said. “And look towards the future. But first…” 

The orange holo of her omnitool lit up for a moment, and a ponderous melody filled the room.

“An old Earth song?” Thane said, puzzled, tiling his head as the brassy sounds of the music caught his attention.

“Good old Bobby Darin. I want one dance that’s just for us, before tonight gets away from us,” she whispered, and he didn’t miss the blush glowing on her cheeks. “It’s stupid, but…” 

“Siha…” She stopped mid sentence at the sound of the name he had given her and he took her hand in his. His other arm went around her waist so that just a breath of space rode between them. He’d observed human dancing before, knew that humans danced as much, if not more than many of the other races in the galaxy-- except for maybe the drell. Drell dance was ritualized, complex, memorized and passed down in exact replica for generations, every step perfect.

 _Somewhere… beyond the sea..._. 

The singer crooned the words, meant to be playful but they cut into him like it was a prayer. How had a human song, written before first contact come so close to his people’s own words for their afterlife?

_It's far beyond the stars... It's near beyond the moon...._

This dance was not perfect. There were no memorized steps, just the gentle sway of her hips, the feeling of her body ghosting against his as she let him lead her into the middle of the floor. Her hand was feather-light in his, and they began to take small steps together, rotating slowly on the spot. 

_We'll meet beyond the shore… We'll kiss just as before...Happy we'll be… beyond the sea..._

He said nothing, just listened to the lyrics, and held her gray eyes with his own brown-on-green-on-black ones, letting the percussive swell of the music guide them, reaching out with his intuitive physicality to find a way to move to the foreign sounds.

_And never again I'll go sailing…_

There was wetness at the corners of her eyes, and he pulled her into him, bodies finally touching. She was warm against him, velvet whispering on cool leather. His lips found the fine lines of crow's feet amongt the scars the war had given her, and he tasted salt, tasted the sea, and felt her sigh on his neck.

_And never again I’ll go sailing…_

He stopped dancing at the taste of her tears and wrapped his arms around the savior of the galaxy and the savior of his heart, the heart which currently thumped loudly against his chest. He he knew she could feel it pounding. 

“Thane,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, it was just a stupid song.” 

“Not stupid,” he murmured. “I wonder, Siha… how does such an old human melody know what is in my heart?” He held her at arm's length for a moment as the music swelled, and then gave her a gentle spin before pulling her close again. She gasped as he found the small of her back and dipped her gently, framed by the window and the sea and city lights, like stars. A moment later she was upright in his arms, laughing, and he kissed her, tasting her smile. 

_No more sailing… so long sailing… bye bye sailing..._


End file.
